On the edges of the cities and in the countryside, away from the eyes of tourists, they have dog catching vans that work as an independent business, that drive around collecting unwanted and problem dogs (anyone that has spent a reasonable amount of time in the countryside should have seen this at some point). These dogs are caught and put in a large cage on the back of the truck and the person who gave the catcher the dog or pointed it out as a stray gets a plastic clothes washing bowl or something. These dogs are then sold to Thai/Chinese meatball factories as they are popular amongst many locals at the noodle and meat ball street stalls which cater for tuk-tuk, bus drivers, normal working Thais and others (lovers of street food beware as you never know what kind of "meatball" it really is
![naughty :naughty:](./images/smilies/naughty.gif)
).
Imo, nothing wrong with having a real dog as a healthy addition to a family environment that is responsibly taken care of and excersized periodically. However, I rarely see this here....and what I do see all too often is imprisoned mongrel dogs that end up going crazy as they are essentually jailed 24/7 in a house yard of concrete that viciously snarl at anything that passes/start barking at the moon etc because they are being used as cheap security, never let out and it's even maybe slightly an image/face thing too for some to own a dog.
Having 'you know who' being a dog lover plus the religious aspect of it all doesn't help really either and has lead to essentially what is nothing more than a public health problem with all the diseases the stray are capable of carrying, excrement everywhere, lack of responsibility for bites and the threat they perpetually potentially pose to all...to the point where it's not possible in many places to just 'go for a walk' without taking a piece of bambo or a baseball bat with you.
Thailand does have a big dog problem.....but it's not a problem the authorites are willing to tackle or that will change anytime soon.
For me, basically, it's a problem that has gone way beyond that stage that something should be done about it as there are countless stories of children being maimed and traumatized plus motorbike riders injured (which is my main problem with it all along with dog shit everywhere).
However, sensibleness and responsibility seem to be qualities a large section of the local population struggle with.
Anything that is unaccompanied, an obvious stray or overtly snarling and just wandering about should be......well.........eliminated.